Field
The described technology generally relates to a winding device for winding a strand shaped winding material.
Description of the Related Technology
The strand shaped winding material can be, for example, a metallic or a non-metallic, a coated or a non-coated wire, a single-core or a multi-core cable, a fiber, such as a natural fiber or a synthetic fiber, particularly a fiber for special technical applications such as an optical fiber, a thread, a string or a rope.
The winding device includes a winding disk with a generally circular cross section, wherein on its outer peripheral surface the strand shaped winding material is wound. The winding disk has generally the shape of a flat cylinder, whose height is dimensioned so that several windings of the strand shaped winding material may be wound on the outer peripheral surface simultaneously. The winding disk can be arranged horizontally in the winding device, but it can also be arranged vertically or in another orientation.
The winding disk is fixed during the operation of the winding device. The winding of the strand shaped winding material on the winding disk is carried out by a suitable rotary winding mechanism for the winding material, for example, by one or more deflection rollers with a continuous rotary motion around outside the peripheral surface of the winding disk and in the form of a rotary winding on this circumferential surface. The settling of the strand shaped winding material can be done near an axial end of the winding disk. The windings, which are formed on the peripheral surface of the winding disk, are then pushing each other in the axial direction of the winding disk until they reach the other axial end of the winding disk.
However, after the winding of the strand shaped winding material on the winding disk, it is not to remain on the winding disk (in terms of a winding bobbin for the storage and transport of the winding material), but it is further processed in various ways after the winding on the winding disk:
On the one hand, the windings of the strand shaped winding material on the other axial end of the winding disk can slip off again without any further support or guidance from the winding disk and fall into a container, such as a barrel, which is used for storing and for transporting the strand shaped winding material. In this case, the winding disk can be arranged horizontally and the container is under the winding disk. A winding device of this kind is also referred to as drum winder. It can be used for strand shaped like winding material which is plastically deformed to a certain extent when being wound on the winding disk, so that the windings remain largely stable while falling into the container. For this purpose, the winding materials are essentially metallic wires or strands or cables made thereof.
On the other hand, the windings of the strand shaped winding material can be controlled also at the other axial end of the winding disk and removed again under tension. In this way, the winding device can be used as a storage device for the strand shaped winding material, wherein the windings are “stored temporally” on the winding disk. By varying the degree of the filling of the winding disk, it is possible, for example, to decouple the feeding rate from the stripping rate of the strand shaped winding material, whereby it is possible to balance speed fluctuations or even momentary stoppages within the process of machining of the strand shaped winding material.
For a winding device of the above described type, the following problem arises: Since the winding disk has been revolved continuously by the winding mechanism for the winding material and the windings of the strand shaped winding material are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the winding disk, it is necessary—for a round winding disk—that a volume in the form of a cylinder barrel, e.g., a tubular volume, is set free, wherein the volume has a certain thickness being dependent inter alia on the diameter of the strand shaped winding material, the thickness thereof being radially measured. Since the strand shaped winding material moves in this tubular volume, no other bodies such as a lever or an arrangement of levers may be present there.
However, by the winding of the strand shaped winding material onto the winding disk and/or by the contacting of the strand shaped winding material to the winding disk, forces and/or moments, which have to be supported, are applied to the winding disk. For example, inter alia a torque is applied via the strand shaped winding material to the winding disk, whereas the torque would also rotate the winding disk. In particular, a horizontally arranged winding disk would also be rotated around its vertical axis.
Therefore, for the known winding devices, the winding disk will be mounted, for example, suspending from bearings from above. For this purpose, a vertically arranged rotating hollow shaft through which the strand shaped winding material of the winding device is supplied and from which the winding material is discharged laterally through an opening to be directed to the winding mechanism for the winding material, extends downward to the winding disk, and the winding disk is mounted rotatably suspending on the vertical shaft by a rotary bearing, for example, a roller bearing. By this, the forces in all directions and also the torques around other axes than the vertical axis can be accommodated. However, the torques around the vertical axis and therefore a concomitant rotation of the winding disk cannot be prevented by such a mounting.
For this reason, the known winding devices use, for example, a so-called zero gear or a gear compensation, which generate by their kinematics a counter rotational movement whereby the winding disk is retained in the direction of a rotation around the vertical axis. The zero transmission thus serves to prevent a rotation of the winding disk.
Alternatively, for the known winding devices, the winding disk can also have form fitting elements for accommodating the forces and the torques, for example in the form of a so-called “mechanical sword”, e.g., a simple nose-piece on the bottom side of the winding disk which engages in a corresponding groove on the upper side of the container for the strand like winding material. By the thus formed form fitting between the nose-piece and the groove, a concomitant rotation of the winding disk is prevented.
For preventing the rotation of the winding disk (also called “Scholl disk”) of a drum winder, the DE 36 42 177 A1 also proposes using permanent magnets consisting of pairs of different poles of plate-shaped segments. In each case, one segment is mounted on a flange of the winding disk and the other segment is mounted on a mounting fixed to the housing. The two segments are arranged so as to be attracted magnetically to each other in the vertical direction. Between the two segments, a disk is running in a small air gap, in which the strand shaped winding material is guided over two deflection rollers to the winding disk and it is wound there.
A magnetic fixation for preventing the rotation of the winding disk is particularly suitable for a non-magnetic strand shaped winding material like, for example, a non-metallic strand shaped winding material or for copper wires or for aluminum wires.
Similarly, for a storage device for a thread shaped material, the DE 23 52 521 A1 proposes preventing the vertically arranged winding disk from rotating by a permanent magnet attached to it and by a permanent magnet fixed to the machine frame. The two block shaped magnets are thereby arranged opposite radially in regard to the winding disk, with a gap between the magnets being formed, through which the thread shaped material can move.